oBike has landed in London

“oBike is a global Internet company focusing on innovation,” states the Twitter account for oBike, and only secondly does it add that it ‘s offering “station-less bike sharing technology.” The Singapore-based company has placed 400 hire-by-app bikes in Tower Hamlets, London.

As the name suggests dockless bike-share schemes do not require expensive, space-hungry docking stations – the GPS-equipped bikes are booked by smartphone app and can be left (almost) anywhere thanks to an on-board lock. The sector is dominated by Asian tech companies looking to gain traction on smartphones, especially the smartphones owned by millennials.